The recent news on flying throws up some interesting information regarding our dependency on planes.
They pollute the earth, are totally responsible for global warming, don't pay enough tax/pay to much tax, etc. etc.
Over Europe (EU plus some adjacent bits) there are 28,000 flights a day. Most days, the same number take off as land!
Given that number of flights, the ATC caution when the ash arrived is quite understandable. Even if only 0.01% of flights suffered, there could have been several crash landings (or worse) a day unless some caution was exercised. It looked like overkill (bad choice of words), but may have prevented many accidents until the situation was properly assessed.
As well as providing transport for business, family trips, and holidays,most flights by airliners also carry a lot of freight. There are also freighter aircraft which transports fruit, veg, pills, animals (breeding stocks of cattle, pigs, horses, etc.). Airfreight has been growing at around 15% pa compared to passenger travel at 5% until the recent down turn.
The latest jet engines are more efficient than the diesel engines used in cars, lorries and buses. A full airliner uses less fuel per passenger than a car carrying only the driver, particularly on long haul flights where the plane is at high altitude for more of the journey.
Until we work out another way to move a lot of people round the world, or get people to stop travelling, planes are pretty good at providing an important part of modern life.
It was good to stand outside and NOT have planes crackling and roaring their way across the sky though!
NN
Topic: Aircraft. (Read 2948 times)
